Day 6 - Using Your Voice in Your Writing

Branding6

Welcome to Day #6 of the 31 Days to Better Branding series! To learn more about this series, click here to find links to the other days so you'll be able to follow along or catch up if you happen to miss anything.

Today I want to write to you about...well...writing:)

I have to be honest and tell you I was just about to make this a video post because it's really hard to write about writing without analyzing every sentence! But then I thought you would probably be too focused on my bedhead and jammy pants to be able to listen to anything I'm saying haha.So let me just start with this warning that I may not always be following my own points but it's something that I'm working on too. We're in this together, right?

Off we go...

Okay so when it comes to writing, the most important thing you can do is figure out how to use your voice.

Voice in writing is just another word for personality and style.

Your voice says a lot about who you are and instantly helps attract the type of clients you want to attract.

Hopefully the past 5 days have helped you figure out these two things already so that you can focus on communicating them in words.

Our clients are constantly going to come into contact with our words. So we want to make sure our email responses, our Facebook statuses, our website bios, our company slogans, our blog posts, our thoughts on Twitter, our forms and contracts, our thank you notes, etc. will attract the right people.

Here are a few things I've been learning about using voice.

1. Write for your audience.

Remind yourself who you're talking to and then speak their language. Don't worry about what people outside that target audience will think because you are creating an experience for your ideal client alone. You want them to say, "This is for me!"

2. Keep it clear and concise.

Tell people why they should care as soon as possible. Remember that people have really short online attentions spans and they are almost always scanning. So if there's a quick and simple way to say something - don't over complicate it by using technical terms and too much detail. We all want to sound smart, but we don't want to make it hard for people to understand us. 3. Be relational.

It helps to pretend you're sitting down face to face in a coffee shop with your ideal client. Let your personality show and be real with people. Avoid using "we" to sound more important if you're really just an "I." Also try to avoid talking at people like they are part of a crowd. Everyone wants to feel valued and so if you say "you" instead of "you all," you're instantly creating connection.

4. Make a call to action.

What's the point of what you're writing? What do you want them do to next? If you want someone to follow a link, tell them to. It's actually proven to make a difference. Make sure your writing is purposeful and leading in a general direction.

5. Add some life!

Everyone hates getting stuck on the phone with a voice recording and endlessly pressing buttons to get a simple answer. Aren't we constantly thinking, "Ugh! Just let me talk to a human!" Writing is the same way. We all want to know that there's a person on the other side of the writing - not a robot. So don't be afraid to add life! Delight people with a good story. Surprise them with humor. Add exclamation points!! (My husband makes fun of me for this all the time haha.) Find a way to make things more fun and memorable.

Homework: Evaluate all of your writing copy. Take it through each of the 5 points and see if it works. Does it sound like the real you? Does it need more personality? Is it relational and easy to understand? Does it sound like the same person is behind it all and add to your brand?